Shojo is partuclarly useful to gender discussions of the Japanese girl, but with a distinct of youth. Free and arrogant, unlike meek and dutiful musume [daughter] or otome [maiden]. Shojo culture is a fascinating cultural space, within contemporary Japanese culture. Shojo culture is a fascinating cultural space, within contemporary Japanese culture. As an emerging trend in contemporary Japanese art its significance to new discourses in feminist art. In the closed, girl only spaced of shojo culture, girls negate and make complex the dominant gender stereotypes that exist in contemporary Japanese society through creations of gender. Found throughout the practices of many young Japanese artists, the shojo motif is key to understanding some of Japan's recent contributions to contemporary feminist art. In which the figure of the shojo is utilized for a new generation of feminist critique.
According to an article entitled "The power of girls comics: The value and contribution to visual culture and society", from the site www.csuchico.edu, Masami Toku writes that, "There are two purposes of this significant visual pop-culture project is to examine the worldwide phenomenon of Japanese comics not only in Japan but also other countries including US." The second is to enlighten the audiences to develop their media and visual literacy. These examines the cultural and historical backgrounds of the Japanese visual popular culture that exerts such an influence on US society. One reason is that there are more complicated and diverse issues in visual pop culture rather than traditional art. It may not be an exaggeration to say that manga is the center of the Japanese culture. It has become a world phenomenon because of proliferation with manga related animation, toys, TV series, computer games and film. The popularity of manga is more significant in Japan that it is in any other culture, appealing to all ages and demographic.
It provides its young people with an amazingly vivid array of options both to consume and to create. Almost 15 years ago it was discovered that Japanese children's drawing were strongly influenced by visual pop culture of manga in Japan. In response to this Japanese visual pop culture to support children's visual literacy skills, however even Japanese art educators do not know about the value and the contribution of Japanese manga to the entire visual cultural world. Looking at the phenomenon of manga in Japan leads not only to an understanding of contemporary society in Japan. Many different kinds of manga have been published for different ages, genders, and fans and favorite themes since 1970s. One of the major characteristics of Japanese manga is that manga has split into boys (shonen) and girls (shojo) manga, each developing in its own way. Regardless of the subject, the main theme in boys manga is competitive fighting, how the heroes become men by protecting women, family, country, or the earth from the enemies. While girls manga theme is simply love, the important is how to find love through a process of overcoming obstacles.
In another article called "Turning Japanese: A starter guide to Shojo manga", from the site www.ifanboy.com, Mollly McIsaac writes that, "Being in my twenties and growing up as a social reject girl-nerd, I was the perfect target audience for manga when it started to become popular." In the United States, the reign of comics has come and gone. Even though these days comics are infiltrating pop culture and movies, reading them is still considered a very niche hobby/passion, one that is sometimes stereotyped or made fun of as geeky. Imagine if that wasn't the case; imagine that at bookstores it was completely normal for at least half the shelf space to be taken up by graphic novels. Imagine going on the train and not being shocked by seeing an older lady or a businessman reading comics. Imagine comics infiltrating advertising campaigns, from billboards to commercials. Basically, imagine comics had the same power in America as manga does in Japan. While western inspiration might or might not have played a role in the early days, the style in it's current form naturally developed due to the extensive focus on characters intrinsic to manga. The eyes and their surrounding area are the primary outlet of emotion. They're also the part of human anatomy where beautiful details will have the most impact on the viewer. Western comics never really where about visual aesthetics after all.
Based on what I have learned that its culture is significant to new discourses for art that through out many young Japanese artists, that the shojo motif is the key to understanding some of Japan's recent contributions to contemporary feminist art. That every shojo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction. Strictly speaking, that shojo manga does not comprise a genre per se, but rather indicates a target demographic. Though the terminology originates with the Japanese publishers, cultural differences with the west mean that labeling in English tends to vary wildly, with the types often confused and misapplied.
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